


The Rise of Voltron

by HoldenMGrudges



Series: Voltron: Legendary Band [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gay, Gay Shiro (Voltron), M/M, Questioning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2019-09-24 00:31:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17090681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoldenMGrudges/pseuds/HoldenMGrudges
Summary: Shiro and Keith are best friends just trying to make it in the music industry. When Lance puts up a flyer trying to start a boy band, Shiro pushes Keith to try out. Pidge tries out as well, pretending to be a boy, questioning her own identity. Hunk just wants to make new friends. Thus the new band Voltron is formed. Allura, with her assistant Coran, sees the band perform and immediately offers to be the band's manager. Will the band make it big? Find out in this alternate universe loosely parallel to Season 1 of Voltron: Legendary Defender.





	1. 1.1 It's Good To Be Back

**Author's Note:**

> So I joined this fandom only 3 weeks ago, and now that the show is over, I'm not ready to let go. I'm not really one for writing in-universe fics, so I'm creating my own alternate universe that parallels each episode of the show. Not sure how long I can keep this up, but I guess we'll see how far I get. This will mostly be a Sheith fic, although it's gonna be a real slow burn. I made them 5 years apart and named their hometown Garrison, USA because I didn't really feel like coming up with original names.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro is back in town and Keith has something to tell him.

“It’s good to be back.” Shiro bit into his burger, enjoying it as if it was the best thing he'd ever had.

“I guess you didn’t eat burgers while on tour?”

“Oh no,” Shiro answered, “It’s all I ate. They just didn’t taste as good as they do here.”

Keith looked at his friend and had so many questions for him. He knew Shiro had tried to keep in touch, but with everything going on, it had been hard. It had only been a year, but it seemed longer than that. A lot could happen in a year.

As much as Keith and Shiro were best friends, there was a lot they didn’t talk about. There was a lot they didn’t know about each other.

Shiro was the type of guy to smile a lot and comfort everyone. Keith was just the opposite. But what they both had in common was that they never really opened themselves up to anyone.

“Like, here on campus?”

“No, here in Garrison. With you.”

It was when Shiro said stuff like that, that made Keith feel uncomfortable. It was too much emotion for him, especially when he didn’t entirely believe that Shiro felt the way he said he felt. Keith trusted him, but he had to keep his guard up. After all, the guy had just left him for a whole year and now he just pranced back into his life expecting everything to be the same. Keith felt suspicious.

“So then why’d you want to meet me here?”

“Well, you live here. I didn’t want you to travel far just to see me.”

“Oh.” Had he forgotten to tell Shiro? Or rather, had he forgotten that he had purposely avoided telling Shiro? “I uh...have something to tell you.”

Shiro took a pause from his food and looked directly at Keith. That was another thing that made Keith uncomfortable. Eye contact. It was something Shiro was good at, but he was not. He glanced down at his soda, watching it fizz. He knew he had to tell him eventually, but some part of him had hoped that Shiro wouldn’t return and he’d never have to tell him.

“What is it, Keith? You’re worrying me.”

“Don’t. It’s nothing bad. It’s just...you might not like it.”

Shiro put his burger down and straightened his posture. Sometimes he acted like Keith’s dad, despite only being five years older. Keith knew it was all an act though. Shiro was no more responsible than he was. He just liked to play the more mature role to feel better about himself. In some cases, Keith knew he was the more mature one.

Keith looked back up at Shiro for a second and decided to spit it out. “I quit school.”

“You quit?”

“Well, more like, I was asked to leave.”

“You were expelled?” Shiro looked more hurt than angry. “For what?”

“There was some guy that was bugging me so...I hit him and...Apparently the school doesn’t condone violence so…”

That was the basic explanation. The more in depth one required Keith to be more open, which he wasn’t going to be. Sure, the guy that had been bugging him was annoying, but he wasn’t enough of a nuisance to warrant a punch in the face. It had been a deliberate action on Keith’s part. He knew what he’d been doing. He knew the school had a no violence policy. And he knew that he didn’t want to just up and quit school. If he got expelled, he wouldn’t be able to reenroll. Hitting the annoying guy in a very public area of school was just icing on the cake.

“Keith…” Shiro looked at him with eyes of disappointment, but still hurt. He didn’t say anything for a minute, but just kept staring at him. Keith had to look everywhere around the room while returning to see if Shiro was still staring several times. He was. “So you’re just...working? Nothing else?”

“Yeah...pretty much.” He and Shiro had both worked as food delivery drivers before he left. Shiro was the one who’d helped him get his car and the job. He’d stopped temporarily to attend school, but once that ship sailed, Keith went back to delivering food.

“What about dating? Met anyone special yet?”

Instead of him asking Shiro everything he wanted to ask, Shiro was the one grilling him. He almost felt annoyed, but he knew Shiro was asking, not out of gossip, but out of wanting to know if anyone was taking care of him. The answer was, “No.”

“Where are you staying?”

“Shitty apartment.”

Shiro gave him that look of disappointment and hurt again, but this time it seemed more judgy. “Sounds like you’re living the life.” Shiro went back to eating, and Keith huffed. He knew Shiro was being sarcastic, but he also knew that it was none of Shiro’s business.

Nothing was Shiro’s business anymore. He was the one who had chosen to leave. Maybe if Shiro had stayed, he’d still be going to school. Maybe if Shiro had stayed, he could have helped him find a girlfriend. Or maybe if Shiro had stayed, he could have opened up to him and he wouldn’t be stuck in a cycle of hating himself.

“Show me your place after this?” Shiro asked. Keith gave a singular nod. He hoped Shiro hadn’t expected a warm welcome. A year was long enough to keep his distance, even from his best friend.


	2. 1.2 You Have To Do It With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After seeing how Keith is living, Shiro has an idea about how to spark a fire inside him.

It really was a shitty apartment. There was only one room, big enough to fit a bed, but not much else. Shiro knew that Keith didn’t care, but he did. He wanted bigger things for Keith. He didn’t want him living like this. But there was nothing he could do about it really.

And it wasn’t as if Shiro could say anything. He’d been touring with his former band, Kerberos, for a year in a shitty van. Even when they found a motel to stay at, Shiro chose to sleep in the van. He said he wanted to feel close to the instruments. The truth was that he just wanted to be alone. It was easier that way. When he started drinking more, Matt and Sam stopped badgering him about it.

“Well, at least you keep it clean,” was all he could say. He had to keep up this facade around Keith that he was wiser because he was older. He knew it was what Keith needed. He had to play this big brother role so he could keep Keith believing that everything got better.

“You’re one to talk. When you and Adam lived together, your room was a mess.” Keith ushered him out of the apartment. Shiro could tell Keith was embarrassed of his little studio and he wondered if he was the first person he’d ever invited over. “Where are you staying at, anyway?”

Shiro’s life was far from better. He had some money from the tour, but he was practically homeless. He was staying with Sam and Matt temporarily while he found a new place, but that was awkward itself. Shiro knew he was the reason the band broke up.

“With the Kerberos boys for now. Once I get a solid income, I’ll look for a place of my own.”

“You’re not gonna go back with Adam?”

“Adam and I haven’t spoken since I left.”

“Oh.”

Shiro could see Keith struggling with something. A question maybe. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”

“Nothing.”

“Keith...You’re like my brother. You’re the closest thing to family I have. I don’t know about you, but…”

“Right. No, I feel the same way. I just...I’m glad we’ve kept in touch. I don’t know what happened with Adam, but...I’m glad that didn’t happen to us.”

Shiro felt bad about Adam, but it was inevitable. They wanted different things. Adam wanted to settle down and Shiro didn’t. He’d beat himself up so much about it on the road. He’d written so many songs both apologizing to Adam and reminding himself why he left him in the first place. He’d always felt so bad about even accepting Adam’s proposal.

“Adam wasn’t family. Us going our separate ways was inevitable. You and me, we’ll always be in each other’s lives. I can promise you that.”

Keith gave him a smile, but Shiro didn’t think he fully believed him. Shiro understood though. Adam wasn’t the only one he’d left behind. But he figured Keith was on the path to success. He had just started college, and he was going to do great things. Things greater than Shiro. He almost wanted to blame Keith for why he left. Keith was going places, but Shiro felt unfulfilled. So when he got the opportunity to tour with Kerberos, he had to take it. He wanted to live his life. He figured everyone would be happy.

“Hey,” Shiro said. “Let’s go back to campus. I have an idea.”

Life on the road was great at first. He got to sing in different cities with a father/son duo that had been kind enough to make him feel like a third member of the family. He’d only known them for about a year when they’d asked him to join them, so they hadn’t yet cracked his hard exterior. Shiro figured over the course of the next year or so, he’d grow more comfortable around them and open up more, but as the months passed by, Shiro only got more distant.

Back at campus, Shiro led Keith into the music building and looked up and down the bulletin boards, searching for anything interesting. “Oh here’s something,” he finally said. He pointed at a flyer that said, LOOKING FOR MUSICIANS/SINGERS TO JOIN BOY BAND.

“A boy band?” Keith asked with a scoff. “Aren’t you a little too old?”

Shiro glared at him for a second, but then smiled. “Not for me, silly. For you.”

“For me?”

“Well, if you’re not going to go to school, you should at least find something music-related to occupy your free time. You have a talent.”

“I’m nowhere near as talented as you are, Shiro.”

“True.” He gave Keith a wink. “You’re way more talented than I am.”

Keith stared at the flyer for a moment. Shiro knew he was tempted. He could see the fire in Keith and he knew that even if he didn’t have his own life figured out, he could at least help Keith figure his out. He knew he could get him back on the right path. This was why he had to play the big brother part.

“Fine,” Keith finally said. “But…” Shiro raised an eyebrow in wonder. “You have to do it with me.”

“Keith...You just said it yourself. I’m too old for a boy band.”

“It’s you and me or nothing. Take it or leave it.”

Shiro sighed and looked at the flyer just as Keith had. For a second, he felt a fire light up inside himself too. Maybe he was nowhere near figuring his life out, but at least this was a step towards something. If doing this helped Keith, then great. If doing this helped himself, even better.

“Okay. Let’s do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if I should do a chapter for each character or if I should just stick to only Keith and Shiro. But next chapter we'll meet Lance, Pidge, and Hunk.


	3. 1.3 Oh Hell No

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance starts a band.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry there's not a lot of content. Usually I would write 3-5 of these little scenes and put them up as 1 chapter, but I'm trying to just pop it all out ASAP so that I don't go weeks without posting anything. That's why I'm titling these with a sub-number. Technically this is still part of Chapter 1. The story will make sense once I get into the later chapters.

All Lance wanted was to impress a girl. He’d made up a lie that he was in a band and that they would be playing at the university’s annual Battle of the Bands. When she told him she’d go on a date with him if they won, he had no choice but to form a band.

Logically, a boy band would bring more girls so he put up a flyer all over the school’s music building looking for other guys to join the band.

Lance initially assigned himself the role of lead singer and lead guitarist. Even though he lied about being in a band, he had been taking guitar classes for a year and he wasn’t bad at it. His voice needed work but he could at least stay on beat.

The auditions would be held at the roof of his dorm building, which his RA had taught him to get up to. No one really hung out on the roof so he figured it could also be of use as rehearsal space.

The first person to join was a big guy named Hunk. He hadn’t brought any instruments, assuming he’d be trying out as a singer. Apparently, when you put ‘boy band’ in the flyer, people thought of the kind where every member was a singer. Hunk’s singing wasn’t that great and he pretty much admitted it, but he wanted to join to make friends. Lance wasn’t going to deny him that.

Their first order of business was coming up with a look for a band. According to Lance, it didn’t matter how they sounded as long as they looked good for the ladies. They went to a local thrift shop because they didn’t have a lot of money and vintage was always fashionable.

Lance was drawn to many different clothes, though they all were somewhere in the blue hue. He became really enamored with a pair of bright blue bell bottoms and announced to Hunk that all their looks would revolve around them.

Hunk had found an orange-ish sweater he liked. It had a couple of white stripes going down the front and meeting like a V. He agreed to the bell bottoms as long as Lance agreed to the sweater.

The next person to join the band was a younger guy named Pidge. Lance noticed Pidge was more on the feminine side, which he didn’t mind at all. He was happy to find out Pidge actually played an instrument even if it was the piano. With a keyboard with a variety of instrument sounds, they could still make the band work.

Pidge didn’t have much to contribute in the looks department. His clothes were very loose on him, though he did wear a belt tightly around his waist. Lance almost found him attractive, but the way they clashed turned him off.

It wasn’t as if they didn’t get along. It was just that whenever Lance had an idea, Pidge had a different one. While Lance wanted to focus on their look, Pidge wanted to focus on the music. Hunk had mostly gone with whatever Lance had wanted, but since Pidge joined, he didn’t know who to go along with and that made Lance even more annoyed.

The next order of business was coming up with the name of the band. Lance wanted to name them something related with electricity. His reasoning was that it made sense because the colors of his bell bottoms and Hunk’s sweater reminded him of electricity, as well as because they’d be playing electric instruments. He rolled his eyes when Pidge reminded him they had yet to even use any instruments.

Pidge’s idea for a band name was something to do with robots. Pidge insisted on starting with the music so they could figure out what sounds they wanted to use. He said lately he was into robotic sounds and therefore thought that could lead into the band name. Lance immediately thought it was a stupid idea and they both looked to Hunk to break the tie.

Hunk didn’t have a preference towards either suggestion, but he did have an idea of his own. While staring at the mirror, he told Lance and Pidge that he wanted something that started with a V. “It goes with my sweater,” he said. Neither Pidge nor Lance objected to the idea, but they both kept arguing for their own idea.

It seemed like Lance was going to have to break up the band, or at least kick Pidge out, when he got a call from someone else who was interested in being in the band.

“My friend and I are interested in joining your boy band. We can both sing pretty well.”

Lance glared at Pidge as he spoke into his phone. “Do you guys play any instruments?”

“My friend plays a little guitar. I’m not so great, but I can learn.”

“Perfect,” Lance said before giving the guy on the other end of the call his address and a time to meet up. He told himself he would see how the two new recruits were before making up his mind on whether to kick Pidge out or not. If worse came to worst, it could just be him and Hunk in the band. They wouldn’t even have to sing.

However, when the two guys showed up to his dorm building, he immediately recognized one of them and clenched his fists. “Oh hell no.”

The taller one with white bangs looked confused, but the one with the shaggy black hair looked surprised to see him. “Keith, what’s going on?” the taller one asked.

“He’s the reason I was expelled,” replied Keith Kogane, the guy who had punched Lance all those months ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now we've met the band sort of. We have to get them to play some actual music next.


	4. 1.4 Let Them Audition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk is curious when Lance and Pidge agree on something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been MIA for a while. Whoops. Let's see if I can get this ball rolling again.

Hunk hated arguments. But even more, he hated getting caught in between them. He hated choosing sides. He liked Lance and he liked Pidge and they both had great ideas. He wished he could make them both see that the other’s ideas were perfectly valid and made sense. But they were both stubborn. So it came as a surprise to him when they both agreed on something.

“Nope. Nooope.” Lance obviously knew one of the two guys that had showed up to audition for the band. And he apparently didn’t like him. “What are you even doing on campus? I’m about to call security.” Lance reached for his phone and Hunk wondered if he was being serious.

“Oh, what,” replied the guy that Lance knew. “Are you scared that I’m gonna beat your face in again?”

This comment shut Lance up for a second. He put his phone away and put up his fists. “Come at me, Kogane. I can take you. And your boyfriend.”

That remark seemed to make this Kogane fellow angry and he put his fists up too. Hunk wanted no part in this and looked for the nearest exit. Maybe once he got to safety, he would call campus security.

Before it got to that, however, the other man that was auditioning got in front of Kogane. “Let’s not do all that. Look, we’re just here to audition. Whatever is in the past, let it stay in the past.” Immediately, Hunk knew he liked this guy.

“I’m not gonna let the guy who suckerpunched me in front of the whole school audition for my band.”

Hunk had heard about a guy who’d been single-punch knocked out on the quad last year, but he’d never actually looked into who it was. Now he knew, and he could say he was friends with the single-punch knockout guy. He took a good look at Kogane and wondered how so much power could come from such a little guy. He must’ve been charging it up or something.

“Look, I swear we’re good,” the taller man said. “I just got back from a tour with a band, Kerberos. We’re pretty well known.”

Hunk had an inkling the man was exaggerating the truth. He’d seen Kerberos play before when they opened for the band that Hunk had actually gone to see. From what he could remember of Kerberos, they were purely instrumental and made up of one young guy and an older man. Kogane’s friend seemed a little to old to be the young guy and way too young to be the older guy. He wondered if Kerberos had gotten a vocalist. Lance had said the two guys auditioning would be singing.

“I don’t care if you have a record deal with Galra,” Lance replied. “He’s not auditioning for my band.”

“Wait, Kerberos?” Pidge spoke up.

Oh no. Hunk could sense some sort of disagreement coming. If Lance didn’t want Kogane auditioning, Pidge would surely want the opposite.

“Yeah, Kerberos,” the tall man said. “I was their lead singer, Shiro.”

“Was,” Pidge repeated. “Because the band is broken up now.”

Shiro frowned slightly before nodding. “We weren’t a good fit. But I’m free now to help you guys out. If you want.”

“We don’t want,” Lance and Pidge said at the same time. Hunk gasped loudly.

Everyone turned to look at Hunk and he covered his mouth in response. He hadn’t meant to make that obvious. It was just surprising to him that Lance and Pidge actually agreed on something. It made him wonder why they each didn’t want the two guys to audition. He didn’t think Pidge was backing Lance up. Pidge had to have his own personal reason.

“Alright then,” Shiro said, seemingly giving up. “We’ll be going then.”

“Wait,” Hunk spoke up. Once again, everyone stared at him.

Hunk wanted there to be more guys in the band. For one, he didn’t want to be the sole tiebreaker whenever Lance and Pidge got into some argument. And for two, he felt that the band needed more talent than what little they currently had. They hadn’t even gotten to making music yet. Well, at least Lance hadn’t. Pidge was very experimental, but he was good at playing his keyboard. Hunk really liked to listen to Pidge play. But listening wasn’t enough.

“Let them audition,” his voice rang out.

“Hunk, what the fuck?” Lance said, looking betrayed.

“Yeah, what’s the deal?” Pidge added. “We finally agree on something and you decide to object?”

“Well, it’s just,” Hunk started. But he didn’t know how to finish. “I want to hear what they can bring to the band. So far, we haven’t been working and…”

“And you think a loser and an unemployed band singer are what we need?” Lance asked incredulously. Kogane glared at Lance and Shiro looked slightly taken aback.

“I’m just saying, one of them has experience with a band,” Hunk answered. “He could be a real asset. And I’m pretty sure they come as a package deal.” He turned to Shiro. “That right?”

“You got it, boss,” Shiro responded.

“So let them audition. Or I quit.”

Lance and Pidge looked at each other. Another thing they could agree on was that if Hunk quit the band, the band was over and neither of them wanted that.

“Fine,” Lance replied.

“Whatever,” Pidge muttered.

“I’m excited,” Hunk said.

“Me too,” Shiro vocalized.

Kogane just grunted.

“Follow me,” Lance said, walking toward the stairwell. He led them up to the roof of the building, where Pidge’s keyboard, Lance’s guitar, and a few chairs were set up. Lance sat down on one of the chairs and Hunk followed suit.

Shiro and Kogane looked a little confused at the location, but Shiro smiled anyway. He held out some papers he had in his hand and said, “We brought sheet music if whoever this keyboard belongs to would like to accompany us. It’d be nice.”

Pidge reluctantly took the sheet music and went over to his keyboard. After a few seconds, he began playing and Shiro cleared his throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think we'll have Pidge's point of view in the next chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments! I love comments!


End file.
